'From start to finish' - Southampton defeat assessed honestly by Preston North End man

Preston North End midfielder Robbie Brady felt Southampton were far superior in Tuesday night’s 3-0 defeat at St Mary’s.

The Lilywhites shipped three goals in the space of 14 first half minutes - Che Adams netting the first two, before Stuart Armstrong struck in number three. North End were missing a handful of key first team players, with the midfield department decimated in recent weeks. Ben Whiteman, Ali McCann, Liam Millar and Brad Potts all missed out; Alan Browne was not fit enough to start.

Manager Ryan Lowe started Duane Holmes at right wing-back and a midfield pair of defender Jack Whatmough and youngster Noah Mawene. Regardless of the stretched state of the squad, Brady felt North End let themselves down in important areas - and he is frustrated to see the play-off push ultimately come to an end.

"It was a difficult game, from start to finish," said Brady. “When you concede three goals like that, in quick succession, it is a mountain to climb against a team who are in as good form as Southampton are. We made it hard work and we know we can do better for the goals, so the lads are disappointed. Second half was a bit more resilient, even though we were under pressure for most of the game. It was just a difficult night all round. A team like that sets up traps and if you are not on your A game, they are going to catch you.

“They dispossessed us in the first half, after we started okay in the first five or 10 minutes. Then, we were sloppy in possession and gave it away far too much. They capitalised on that, took the ball off us and punished us - which all good sides in this league will do. We wanted to get a result and we weren't able to do that. We've got three games now to put it right and collect as many points as we can. It's obviously disappointing - you put yourself in great stead throughout the season, to give yourself a chance.

“We've been short on numbers in recent weeks, with people filling in and filling gaps - which has been difficult. It happens throughout the Championship season, with the numbers of games you play. It's just unlucky for us that they have come now, in bunches. Everyone trains to their full capacity every day at this place and we have a really good group. It's good to see lads get some minutes, but the last couple of games have been hard. We have no time to feel sorry for ourselves, we just need to keep going and finish the season on a high."